ODOT recently announced that for the next biannual budget, they'd be freeing up $50M for transit agencies across the state. This is going to include grants for all aspects of transit agencies - operational support, green buses & starting up new services. According to this press release, the funding is coming from a mix of federal & agency monies and will be distributed according to a mix of formula grants & competitively awarded funding.
My feelings on boosting support for public transit are well known and I'm intrigued by this effort by ODOT to boost support for these transit agencies. COTA is the #2 winner here - getting north of $3.5M according to the formula grant for operations. Cleveland's getting nearly $2M more than that - in the largest award for the state.
Additionally, 41 new green buses will be purchased for the regions and there will be some money allocated to help fund rural & smaller urban mass transit options. In all, I think this is a pretty good allocation of the $50M over 2 years, as long as this provides an impetus for these transit agencies to continue to expand & upgrade their service.
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